Electrolytic apparatus



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

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ELA. LE SUEUR. ELECTROLYTIC APPARATUS.

No. 450,103. Patented Apr. 7, 1891.

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A, wumwrou n c (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

E. A. LE SUEUR. ELECTROLYTIC APPARATUs. No. 450,103. Patented Apr. 7,1891.

' UNITED STATES PATENT Orricn.

ERNEST ARTHUR LE SUEUR, OF OTTAlVA, CANADA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO CHARLES N. IVAITE, OF NEVTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

ELECTROLYTIC APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 450,103, dated April 7, 1891.

Application filed February 27, 1890. Serial N0.34l,957- (No model.)

-SUEUR, of Ottawa, Province of Ontario, Do-

minion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cells for Electrical Decomposition, of which the following is a specification.

The decomposition of the salts of potash and soda by an electrical current is not new; but the decomposition of these salts for the production commercially of soda or potash and the radical of the salt is not, so far as known to me, practiced. A sufficient reason for this is found in the large cost of the apparatus employed, its high resistance and low efficiency, and the lack of a satisfactory method of preventing the escape of chlorine, (which in the case of chlorides is perhaps the most important product,) as also the lack of simple and inexpensive means for renewing the liquid in the cell, as well as for replacing certain parts of the apparatus which required comparatively frequent renewal.

The object of my invention is to produce an apparatus which will obviate these objections, which shall be durable, cheap, efficient, compact, and of low resistance, and in which those parts which deteriorate in use, particularly the diaphragm and the positive electrode, may be readily removed and replaced when desired.

As my apparatus is more especially intended for the treatment of the chloride of sodium and of potassium, I shall in the following de scription refer to it more particularly with reference to the treatment of chloride of sodium and describe it as shown in the accon1- panying drawings, which is the best form of my apparatus now known to me, and shall refer in my said description to said drawings, using letters of reference thereto.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view partially broken away for greater clearness, showing what is hereinafter referred to as an inner cell and which is one element of theapparatus. Fig. 2 is a vertical central section on line 00 00, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan View of a tank or vessel adapted to contain liquid and showing a number of the inner cells in position and indicating the way in which they are connected up. Fig.4 is a plan view, and Fig. 5 a section, of a modified form of negative electrode detached.

a is a bell of stoneware or similar material, which may be of any shape and size desired. I have shownit as cylindrical, which is the form I prefer. Inside this bell I suspend or secure a lead plateb by means of lead suspending-rods c, which are anchored in the plate and which project upwardly through posts cl in the top of the bell, which posts are provided with set-screws for securing therods c in place. One of these posts 61 is enlarged and has a binding-screw e, by means of which connection is made with the wire f, through which the current passes. A number of carbon. sticks g project downwardly from the plate I) and are secured thereto by having their ends cast into the plate, this form of electrode possessing the advantage over a single plate of large surface. Two tubes h project downwardly through the top of the bell ct to a level preferably with the lower ends of the carbon sticks and serve to change the liquid contents of the inner cell When that is desired. As the space in the bell above the liquidconteuts thereof when in operation is full of chlorine gas, and as this gas is very corrosive and poisonous, it is necessary to closeany opening in the bell with great care. I therefore make the openings in the bell through which the tubes 71 pass somewhat larger in diameter than the tubes and fill this space around the tubes with paraffined cork j or similar suitable material. The tube It is similarly inserted in the bell and the space around it plugged in the same manner. The tube serves to permitthe escape of the chlorine from the bell, and it is conveyed by means of suitable tubes to an absorbing apparatus similar to those at present commercially used and which are well known.

A diaphragm m of vegetable parchment is placedover the open mouth of the bell, which is beveled or rounded to receive it, as shown in Fig. 2, and is secured in place by a ring 0, preferably correspondingly shaped, which is tightly wedged on, the upper inneredge of the ring-being cut away or beveled, as shown at n, to permit of the spreading of the edge of the parchment. The parchment being spread or pushed outwardly from the bell, a ring p, fitting the bell snugly and having its outer edge beveled to correspond with the bevel n, of the ring 0, is forced against the edge of the parchment and serves to wedge it tightly against the ring 0, and thus to make a tight joint. After the ringp is in position melted paraffine or similar material may be poured over it to seal it and prevent the esdesirable.

cape of any gas or liquid. The negative electrode 0* is composed, preferably, of a series of sheets .of fine wire-netting secured together by rivets s and at the edges secured by screws or in any suitable manner to the ring 0. I have found Wire-netting to be preferable, because by its use a large amount of surface is obtained which is comparatively free from adhering bubbles of gas, which is p The central rivet or fastening w of the negative electrode r projects downwardly below the level of any other portion of the electrode and is received in a mercurycup 1 which is in the bottom of the large tank or vessel 25, Fig. 3, in which a number of these inner cells or elements are placed and which may thus be connected up in a suitable manner, as shown, so that any one of the cells may be removed without interfering with the 0 action of the others.

The tank or containing vessel 15 is preferably of a size sufficient to contain a considerable number of inner cells, as shown in Fig. 3, and is provided on the bottom with cupshaped depressions 11 containing mercury, one for each inner cell used, and into which the projection to of the negative electrode of the cell dips. The mercury-cups making connection with the wire or tape surfaces collectively 0 forming the negative electrode and the wires froln the top of the bells making connection with the lead-carbon pieces collectively forming the positive electrode are joined up in any convenient way to the negative and posi- "tive terminals, respectively, of the source of electricity. By this arrangement any of the inner cells may be detached and removed to replace any of its parts without interfering with the action of the remaining inner cells.

In placing the inner cells in the tank they are preferably slightly tiltedsay about an inch for an inner cell of eighteen inches in diameter. The object of this is to facilitate the escape of the hydrogen which forms on the negative electrode.

The tank 25 is supplied with a saturated solution of chloride of sodium, and the same solution is supplied through one of the pipes h of each inner cell until the level of the liquid in the inner cell is the same substantially as that of the liquid in the tank-that is, until the liquid inside of each bell to stands at substantially the height of the liquid thereof.

An electric current being passed through the apparatus, the operation thereof is as follows: Decomposition takes place in the chloride-of-sodium solution, free chlorine and oxygen being formed at the positive electrode, rising to the top of the bell and passing off through the tube 7.; and its connection to the chlorine-absorbing chamber, where the chlorineis absorbed and retained in anyone of the several well-known ways. At the negative electrode free hydrogen is formed, which is allowed to pass off, and sodium hydrate is also formed and remains in the liquid. After a sufficient percentage of the sodium hydrate has been formed in the solution the solution may be run off and the hydrate or caustic soda separated from the sodium chloride in any well-known manner. As that portion of the carbon electrode which is in the liquid is used up the set-screws which hold the rods 0 are loosened and the carbonset down a proper distance into the liquid and the rods 0 again secured in place.

The location or position of the parchment diaphragm is important, as the parchment if attacked by the chlorine directly could very soon be rendered worthless; but by my arrangement only the chlorine in solution touches the diaphragm, and this the diaphragm will withstand for a considerable time. The chlorine gas as it is formed passes up and escapes through the tube in the top of the bell. The position of the diaphragm between the ends of the carbon sticks and the wire-netting ris such that it cannot get much out of position without coming in contact either with the carbon or with the wire, and thus any considerable bulging of the diaphragm and consequent strain at a given point are prevented.

It will be clear that each inner cell is provided with a negative electrode, which is secured thereto chiefly for convenience in removing the inner cells, the parchment diaphragms of which would be apt to break if there was nothing underneath them to support them when the cells were raised. Then each inner cell is, however, provided with a negative electrode secured to it, the negative electrode acts as a support for the diaphragm and prevents it from breaking when the inner cell is lifted out of the tank. As will be obvious, a single negative electrode might be used, underlying all the inner cells, and if the tank were of iron it might also be connected with the negative wire, or one large negative electrode may be employed, underlying allthe inner cells, and a single sheet of wire-netting secured to each cell underneath the diaphragm to act as a support therefor and laid in contact with the large electrode and forming electrically a part thereof. If a large negative electrode is used for all the inner cells, the mercury-cup arrangement will not be needed. These changes will be obvious .to those skilled in the art and are mere matters of electrical engineering.

'What I claim is 1. An electrolytic cell having a vegetable parchment diaphragm located below the positive electrode, whereby said diaphragm is preserved from contact with the gases formed at said electrode, substantially as shown and described.

2. An electrolytic cell havinga bell, of stoneware or similar material, and a positive electrode located within said bell and secured therein by metallic securing and supporting rods, which pass through apertures in said bell and secure said positive electrode in position therein, substantially asshown and described.

3. An electrolytic cell having a bell, as a, of suitable material, a positive electrode within said bell, and a diaphragm covering the mouth of said bell and secured thereto, substantially as shown and described.

4. An electrolytic cell having a bell, of stoneware or similar suitable material, apositive electrode within said bell, a parchment diaphragm covering the mouth thereof, said bell being rounded or beveled at the mouth to receive said diaphragm, a securing-ring, as a, also beveled or rounded to correspond to the shape of the bel1,as also to permit of the spreading of the edges of the parchment, and a ring, as p, for spreading and compressing said edges, for the purposes and substantially as shown and described.

5. An electrolytic cell having a negative electrode composed of layers or strands of metallic tape or wire-netting, substantially as shown and described.

6. An electrolytic cell having a bell, of stoneware or similar material, a diaphragm covering the mouth of the bell and secured thereto, a positive electrode placed within said bell and in proximity to the-inner surface of said diaphragm, and a negative electrode securedoutside of said diaphragm in proximity to the outer surface thereof, whereby the bulging or displacement of the diaphragm is prevented,substantially as shown and described.

7. The combination, with a tank, as t, of a series of inner cells, each of said cells having a bell, as a, of suitable. material, a positive electrode therein, and one or more pipes, as h, communicating only with said cell and projecting through the said bell and downwardly to a level with the lowest portion of said electrode therein for the admission or withdrawal of the fluid of the said cell without disturbing the liquid in the said tank, substantially as shown and described.

8. The combination, with a tank t, adapted to contain liquid and provided in its bottom with suitable electrical connections, of a series of independent removable cells contained in said tank and which are in electrical communication with said connections, substantially as shown and described.

ERNEST ARTHUR LE lVitness es:

WM. A. MAOLEOD, C. E. NoL'rE. 

